Supporting Renters Through Education: Building Successful Futures Becky Hagen Jokela and Lori Hendrickson Extension Educators, Family Resiliency © Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved..

Housing in Minnesota Nearly 600,000 Minnesotans rent housing. The current housing climate across MN reflects a tight housing market in metro and rural areas. Even median-income renters find a modest 2-bedroom apartment out of reach, paying over $1,300 per year more than they can afford.

Housing in Minnesota From 2000-2015, renter households in Minnesota increased by 120,000 households. In 2017, nearly 550,000 families spent more than 30 percent of income on housing. In 2017, nearly 550,000 families spent more than 30 percent of income on housing. If we look at the next slide, we see. . . © 2016 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

Rent burden The National Center for Children in Poverty (2011), defines rent burden as spending more than 30 percent of household income on rent. On the last slide we stated that in 2017, nearly 550,000 families spent more than 30 percent of income on housing. Therefore, 550, 000 families in MN are rent burdened. © 2016 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

Rent burden Rent burden impacts nearly 50% of Minnesota households (Colburn, G. and Allen, R. 2016).   Households across the state spend thousands more than they can afford each year to pay for a modest apartment (Out of Reach Minnesota, 2017). These factors combined create a rental crisis making the need for rental education even more critical. © 2016 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

What Is Rentwise? A comprehensive curriculum intended to be taught in one-on-one or group settings to those who would benefit education and skills to become a successful renter Low income individuals Individuals new to the country Individuals new to rental living, including young adults Individuals in transition The RentWise program is specifically designed to help people at risk for having difficulty obtaining rental housing because of past problems. These problems may be due to lack of experience, stigma from having lived in public housing, poor rental history, poor credit history, or other issues that cause potential property managers to see them as high-risk renters.   The curriculum is uniquely designed to teach skills to assist renters as they avoid legal confrontations, stress dual responsibilities between renter and property managers, promote content to assist renters as they acquire, sustain and aspire to their housing needs and goals.      The program has three units, Acquire, Sustain and Aspire, that teach the most useful and essential information. Renters who complete this program may earn a certificate showing property managers that they want to be successful renters. Active learning techniques are utilized to motivate and empower participants. © 2016 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

RentWise Unit 1 Acquiring Your Rental Housing Determine Housing Needs/Wants Estimating Income and Expenses Reading a Lease Agreement Using a Rental Checklist

RentWise Unit 2 Sustaining Your Home Environment And Relationships Successful Communication Understanding Normal Wear & Tear Keeping Your Home Clean Requesting Repairs

Rentwise unit 3 Aspiring to Your Future Housing Goals Planning for Changes in Money Matters Understanding Renter’s Insurance Obtaining a Certificate of Rent Paid Ending Tenancy Avoiding Eviction

Rentwise facilitator website

Reframing our work Educators utilized the Spectrum of Prevention to design new RentWise program materials and evaluation resources

Spectrum of Prevention Provide relevant information to renters and community partners Identify participant concerns, emerging rental education needs Inform stakeholders of affordable housing needs in MN

Spectrum of Prevention A broad framework of 7 strategies to address complex problems Developed by Prevention Institute Identifies multiple levels where initiatives may work in order to have collective impact and most significant results

Areas of Influence Enhancing an individual’s capacity to promote change within themselves 97.6% of participants learned the benefits of having a cooperative relationship with property manager 97.6% learned the value of having secure housing An example of work at this level is teaching a class to individuals. Evaluation at the individual level differs for every program based on anticipated change. The information on the screen reflects our consumer direct workshops (our train-the-trainer participants or community partners teach consumer direct classes.) One participant stated, “ I am very grateful to have this program and it helped me in ways I really didn’t think I need.” A provider indicated that the agency’s intent in using RentWise was to reduce barriers for those looking for rental housing. © 2016 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

Areas of Influence Reaches groups of people with information and resources to promote family resilience Educators have shared knowledge and program information through: television interview webinar social media RentWise Facilitator Website Community of Practice

Areas of Influence Refers to delivering information to providers who transmit skills and knowledge to others 104 agency staff trained in workshops 39 agencies represented 58 staff had accessed RentWise Facilitator’s Website Examples of work at this level include train-the-trainer events and teaching classes to those who provide services. © 2016 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

Areas of Influence Convening groups of individuals to identify and work toward broader goals and have greater impact than could be done by an individual or single organization. Staff collaborated with existing life-skills program Collaborative enrolled participants at Community Connect event

Areas of Influence Adopting organizational regulations, policies and practices that affect the ability to provide a positive environment to clients, while abiding by industry-related practices RentWise Facilitator Website provides reporting tools for agencies to create reports reflecting their community program to share with stakeholders In this case, we are embedding evaluation practice into what our community partners do when teaching. We are providing them the opportunity to share those evaluation reports and show where their impact takes place. © 2016 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

Areas of Influence Development of content, messages, strategies aimed at informing how institutional or governmental policies are created, sustained or changed to enhance family well-being Using RentWise reporting mechanisms, U of M Extension and community partners are able to share data to address housing policy change

Implications Intent is to provide & foster: relevant information to renters, community partners identifying relevant renter concerns and emerging needs information for stakeholders data to influence affordable housing policy in Minnesota Spectrum of Prevention provides the framework to assess how we accomplish that work. The Spectrum provides a dual focus in providing further understanding and sensitivity to the renter populations with which we work. As a check that we are indeed meeting the renter’s need. © 2016 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

Conclusion RentWise helps community agency representatives to help clients: Learn to be successful renters Find the best housing available to meet needs Identify their future housing goals

References Cohen, L. (1982). Spectrum of Prevention, Prevention Institute. Contra Costa County Health Department. Hendrickson, L., & Hagen Jokela, R. (2017). RentWise. University of Minnesota Extension. Minnesota Housing Partnership. (2017). Out of Reach Minnesota 2017.

Contact Information: lhend@umn.edu hagen022@umn.edu